encrypted batfam text

[overlyprecocious]

Dick and I are joining the Alliance. if anyone needs to know.

Comments

5/5

[reneger]

guess you could technically count bruce dropping me off at a boys home meant to use kids as cannon fodder as a fun undercover mission
i ever mention the salt guns?

1/?

[mostdangerousbird]

I didn’t say what’s happened to you isn’t fucked up. It is. That’s why I said I’d care if it was the other way around.

[mostdangerousbird]

It’s not a competition. Fuck. That would be messed up.

[mostdangerousbird]

More messed up.

[mostdangerousbird]

I don’t like talking about things. So the kindest thing I can do for someone is to let them avoid talking about it. If you want to talk, I’ll listen.

[mostdangerousbird]

But I’ll never get the lid back on if I take it off. And I don’t know how to talk about singular instances because they've congealed and I’m not dragging other people down with me.

6/6

[mostdangerousbird]

But if I remember this, I’m ruining Talia’s life. Why can’t the al Ghuls leave us alone?

[reneger]

i don't like talking about stuff
but you don't get to downplay your own bullshit if i don't get to downplay mine

[mostdangerousbird]

Internalizing isn’t downplaying. I’m doing the best that I can with an entire carnival of issues that I don’t have answers or armor for. You can’t fix that. I can’t fix that. They’re going to happen again, and the only consolation is that I won’t remember now.

[reneger]

you still want to spar?

( he's not saying tim has a point because jason'd argue he--doesn't. turning shit into jokes is a crappy coping method, even if it's one jason utilizes often. he never said he had good ones, he's just. you know. discouraging tim from having equally shitty ones.

violence is clearly better. )

[mostdangerousbird]

[ No. he’s going to get his ass handed to him. ]

Yeah.

[reneger]

are you going to come my way, or do i need to break into the belfry

[mostdangerousbird]

Please don’t break into the Belfry. We already had an unexpected friendly infiltration and I think Dick will fire me as tech guy if someone else busts in.

I’ll come there.

[reneger]

i'll save break in for next time

[mostdangerousbird]

Appreciated. Get out all the weapons. I’ll be there in 20.

[reneger]

( sucks to be tim, because jason is pulling out zero weapons. he does pull out the training mat and puts it in the middle of the living area he generally reserves for throwing people around. sign enough he does intend to spar even without all the pokey sticks and shiny sharp objects, even if jason - doesn't really.

it's a trap but only half of one, because it's not like jason's really planning on fucking tim over anyway. instead, he's leaning up against the wall, water bottle in hand, and waits for tim to show up. )

[mostdangerousbird]

[ Precisely at 20 minutes, Tim enters through the front door with a duffel bag. The time was mostly to get himself together, but he had to fill the extra time. So he packed - his bo, a baseball bat he keeps under his bed at the Belfry, throwing darts - and changed into what passes for workout gear on the street.

He expected to see an entire rack of knives. Faced with only a mat, Tim’s hand tightens on the strap of the duffel and forces a bemused expression that gets nowhere near his eyes. ]

Is this where you tell me that you’re the weapon?

[reneger]

You say it like it's a joke, but you know damn well I don't need anything in my hands to be classified as a weapon.

( with a wiggle of his brows that's supposed to be playful. jason kicks himself away from the wall and puts down the water bottle, so he can make his way over to tim. )

What'd you bring?

[mostdangerousbird]

Calm down, Stalker Jersey Danger. You can take every guy at the bar.

[ It's just automatic. Not only from the shifts he takes at the younger Jason's bar, but - habit. De-escalation, humor.

Less for Jason, and more for Jason's benefit. Tim's brought a lot of weapons. It's like bringing the entire track team as your date to prom and finding out your buddy's gone stag. If he doesn't joke, Jay might pay attention. ]

Everything in the Belfry that wasn't nailed down. I thought we could run it like a break-in, with an appropriate amount of gear throughout the room.

[reneger]

Apartment's already well-stocked. Add any more and it'll start looking suspicious. Or Kyle'll stab himself reaching into a drawer. Either way.

( might be funny to watch kyle fuck up that badly, but that's beside the point.

jason reaches for tim's duffel bag. less to be snoopy, more so he can put the bag full of toys down and away for a moment. )

[mostdangerousbird]

I know, but if I'm the one being tested, I want items I'm most comfortable with. My bedroom isn't stocked with your knives. Not that I can't throw them.

[ They get familiar with certain weights and sizes.

(God, the way he has to force himself to let Jason take the bag off him.)

He does, but he doesn't want to. It's off, somehow. Unnecessary actions stand out. ]

Kyle has a Green Lantern ring. There's no excuse.

[reneger]

I've got a Green Lantern ring. Funny, ain't it?

( because on what world would a ring have swooped in from fuck if he knows where and chosen jason? ha. but he does have one, on the middle finger of his left hand, that he knows tim's seen before. the whole engagement joke and all. and he's getting vaguely familiar with toying around with it.

not that it's all that relevant right now, aside from using it as a distraction. jason takes the bag and drops it down to the side out of the way. reaches an arm out and wraps it around tim's shoulders to yank him forward into a hug. )

Hey, shortstack.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ The hug is less than one-sided, because Tim gets his arms between them deliberately and forces space between them. He could've done more to stop it - could have treated it like the beginning of a grapple and started the fight like a sneak - but this gets the point across without shoving or yelling. Just coldly enduring it. ]

Don't do be an asshole. I'm fine.

[reneger]

( protest noted, but jason doesn't let go. he's not pulling tim forward either, just leaves the arm around him. )

I know you're fine. I'm not.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ Tim sags, but doesn't drop his arms. He can't tell if it's true or not. Like it could be true - it's true on multiple levels - but there's no Jason Todd map that tells him exactly what he's not okay with.

But Tim apologizes anyway. ]

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories.